Appropriate and inappropriate legal protection of user interfacesand screen displays. I

Evaluates the arguments for and against the protection of user interfaces and screen displays, and possible legal mechanisms for their protection under existing or new laws. It is an expansion and restatement of parts of the written statement submitted to the Copyright Office on behalf of the IEEE Computer Society. The author discusses the difficulties and problems that protection of user interfaces and screen displays might cause. He defines user interfaces and discusses their intrinsic and habit aspects. He then examines code and noncode aspects of screen displays     

Appropriate and inappropriate legal protection of user interfacesand screen displays. V. How different forms of copyright protectioninteract with policy

For pt.IV see ibid., vol.9, no.6, p.84 (1989). The author considers which proposed regime of copyright protection for screen displays best serves the public policy requirements discussed earlier. Those requirements center on encouraging progress in the software field by providing incentives to innovators and investors while preserving the availability of utilitarian screen display techniques to other workers in the field. Three possibilities are evaluated: (1) conceiving the registered work as an integrated `computer program' work, which is not just the code of the computer program but also its displays, results, software specifications, and general look and feel; (2) considering the screen display as an integral part of the code of the computer program or as inherent in it (the US Copyright Office policy); or (3) recognizing a screen display as a distinct category of copyrightable work, such as a pictorial work or an audiovisual work, separate from the code of the computer program     

Appropriate and inappropriate legal protection of user interfacesand screen displays. 3. Copyright law, the courts, and the copyrightoffice

For pt.2 see ibid., vol.9, no.4, p.7-10, 92-4 (1989). The applicability of US copyright laws to computer programs is examined, and the enforcement of copyrights is discussed. Court decisions are cited showing that the copyright status of screen displays for computer programs remains confused. An important variable in predicting the scope of copyright protection, namely, the position that the US Copyright Office takes in the exercise of its registration function and in its rulemaking capacity, is examined     

Preferred viewing distance and screen angle of electronic paper displays

This study explored the viewing distance and screen angle for electronic paper (E-Paper) displays under various light sources, ambient illuminations, and character sizes. Data analysis showed that the mean viewing distance and screen angle were 495 mm and 123.7 degrees. The mean viewing distances for Kolin Chlorestic Liquid Crystal display was 500 mm, significantly longer than Sony electronic ink display, 491 mm. Screen angle for Kolin was 127.4 degrees, significantly greater than that of Sony, 120.0 degrees. Various light sources revealed no significant effect on viewing distances; nevertheless, they showed significant effect on screen angles. The screen angle for sunlight lamp (D65) was similar to that of fluorescent lamp (TL84), but greater than that of tungsten lamp (F). Ambient illumination and E-paper type had significant effects on viewing distance and screen angle. The higher the ambient illumination was, the longer the viewing distance and the lesser the screen angle. Character size had significant effect on viewing distances: the larger the character size, the longer the viewing distance. The results of this study indicated that the viewing distance for E-Paper was similar to that of visual display terminal (VDT) at around 500 mm, but greater than normal paper at about 360 mm. The mean screen angle was around 123.7 degrees, which in terms of viewing angle is 29.5 degrees below horizontal eye level. This result is similar to the general suggested viewing angle between 20 degrees and 50 degrees below the horizontal line of sight.     

Color and brightness appearance issues in tiled displays

Large-format displays created by tiling multiple, projected images have been used for decades in flight simulators and entertainment and are commercially available in a variety of forms. More recently, various research organizations have built custom display walls out of commodity projectors to support research in visualization, large-format display, and interaction. In these settings, making the display appear as a single, seamless surface has proven challenging. Where tiles overlap, they create bright seams. The tiles vary in color and brightness, not only from tile to tile, but within each tile. Each projector has a slightly different color gamut, caused by variations in the bulb, color filters, and digital processing (contrast, brightness, and gamma) for the projector. The spatial variation in brightness has two causes. First, the light from a projection system doesn't uniformly illuminate the screen. Second, the light doesn't scatter uniformly out of the front of the screen, making the perceived brightness depend on the viewing angle. In some projectors, the projected light's color also varies across the tile's face, resulting in unwanted tints in the images. I describe what causes these variations and what can be done about them     

Avoiding the legal mire [legal aspects of standards]

Standard setting presents three types of legal issues: antitrust, intellectual property, and choice of a commercial vehicle through which to carry out the standard setting     

Some legal aspects of expert systems

As expert systems become more popular, the possibility of lawsuits arising from their use becomes increasingly evident. The expert system developer needs to be aware of important legal concepts associated with an expert system's development and deployment. This paper will primarily explore the rights to intellectual property associated with an expert system and liability for malfunction of an expert system.     

Perceptual issues in the use of head-mounted visual displays

OBJECTIVE: We provide a review and analysis of much of the published literature on visual perception issues that impact the design and use of head-mounted displays (HMDs). BACKGROUND: Unlike the previous literature on HMDs, this review draws heavily from the basic vision literature in order to help provide insight for future design solutions for HMDs. METHOD: Included in this review are articles and books found cited in other works as well as articles and books obtained from an Internet search. RESULTS: Issues discussed include the effect of brightness and contrast on depth of field, dark focus, dark vergence, and perceptual constancy; the effect of accommodation-vergence synergy on perceptual constancy, eyestrain, and discomfort; the relationship of field of view to the functioning of different visual pathways and the types of visual-motor tasks mediated by them; the relationship of binocular input to visual suppression; and the importance of head movements, head tracking, and display update lag. CONCLUSION: This paper offers a set of recommendations for the design and use of HMDs. APPLICATION: Consideration of the basic vision literature will provide insight for future design solutions for HMDs.     

Data protection and legal compliance in cloud computing

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, where all IT-resources like software, data and other devices are provided on-demand. Cloud computing is a new way of delivering computing resources. Computing services ranging from data storage and processing to software, such as email handling, are now available instantly, commitment-free and on-demand. Since we are in a time of belt-tightening, this new economic model for computing has found fertile ground and is seeing massive global investment.     

Securing the whole enterprise: business and legal issues

This paper discussed the importance of securing information for the whole enterprise and the factors that contribute to the difficulty of maintaining information security in an enterprise. The paper also discussed the consequences of failing to address information security and proposed an approach to address the problem.     

Comparative legal study on privacy and personal data protection for robots equipped with artificial intelligence: looking at functional and technological aspects

AI & SOCIETY - This paper undertakes a comparative legal study to analyze the challenges of privacy and personal data protection posed by Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) embedded in...     

移动应用程序个人数据权属问题法律规制探析

[目的/意义]在用户使用移动智能终端设备的应用程序过程中,个人信息数据往往存在被软件应用程序(APP)非法收集、滥用、泄漏等问题。在工业和信息化部重点整治APP违规收集用户数据等乱象背景下,研究个人信息数据权属问题,对于完善网络安全管理机制具有积极的现实意义。[方法/过程]基于现行法律规定,明确用户对个人信息的本权权益,提出了个人信息数据的权属分类模型。在相关司法实践案例基础上,对APP违规获取用户数据和APP中用户协议中的法律风险进行探讨,并对相关风险和网络新型侵权行为进行归纳。[结果/结论]根据案例分析结果显示,用户对个人数据享有本权权益,敏感个人数据的所有权属于用户,普通个人数据的使用权可以让渡给企业,以提高核心竞争力。贯彻落实数据分级专项保护制度,要求企业或平台使用数据前必须实施隐私影响评估(PIA),加强APP软件市场监督机制,增强对隐私信息滥用者的惩罚力度,加强网络信息安全教育,有利于数据管理机制的完善。     

Ethical and legal issues for writing researchers in an age of media convergence

With the convergence of digital media into ever-widening social and technological networks for creation and distribution, the contexts for writing and the study of writing and writers have certainly changed. Researchers must navigate a dense matrix of ethical and legal issues in all phases of research when studying the ever-changing processes and products of digital communications. In this article, I draw from numerous sources to articulate a few of the challenges facing digital writing researchers in this age of convergence, focusing on issues of representation (researcher, participant, third-party), issues of informed consent, and issues of copyright and fair use.     

Science and technology planning in LDCs: major policy issues

A very judicious planning for the development of sciences and technology is very important in developing countries. Planners should define those fields which are susceptible of progress, taking into consideration the availability of human resources and of technological infrastructures already existing in the country in those particular fields. To create a condition in which domestic scientific and technological capacity might become autonomous, the planning should be incorporated into the long term socioeconomic development of the country, and it should be relevant to the country's needs. A link must be established between the production of new knowledge and new technology, and the economic and political systems. Domestic scientific and technological culture must be advertised, to create a preference by consumers for domestically produced knowledge, bearing in mind, however, that totally autonomous production is very seldom achieved in developing countries, and that overplanning can be not only frustrating, but economically disastrous.     

Computer and informatics issues,and policy for third world development

This paper explains why the microelectronics and computer revolution has become a subject of extraordinary importance for the developing countries, because of the rapidity of technological change and the resulting global impacts on production and consumption. It stresses that a computer and informatics strategy must be developed in the national context, rather than piecemeal, and offers a framework for policy analysis in relation to fundamental national objectives. A basic decisionmaking model for assessing the demand for computer services is developed. The paper identifies the principal technical, national, and international issues arising from the information revolution, discusses the various policy options available, and describes how a practical computer policy might be formulated and implemented in a developing country. A case study of Sri Lanka is presented, involving the successful application of this approach to computer and informatics policy analysis and implementation. Finally, the emerging consensus in the informatics and international development community is outlined, to set up a new International Centre for Computers and Informatics (ICCI), based on the network principle, that will serve the urgent needs of the developing countries in this area.